DOWNLOAD The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

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The
Immortal
Life
of
Henrietta
Lacks
Description
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nbspNEW YORK TIMESnbspBESTSELLERThe story of
modern medicine and bioethicsand indeed race
relationsis refracted beautifully and
movinglyEntertainment WeeklyNOW A MAJOR MOTION
PICTURE FROM HBOnbspSTARRING OPRAH WINFREY AND
ROSE BYRNEnbsp ONE OF THE MOST INFLUENTIAL CNN
DEFINING LITHUB AND BEST THE PHILADELPHIA
INQUIRER BOOKS OF THE DECADE nbspONE
OFnbspESSENCESMOST IMPACTFUL BLACK BOOKS OF THE
PASTYEARS nbspWINNER OF THEnbspCHICAGO
TRIBUNEnbspHEARTLAND PRIZE FOR NONFICTIONNAMED
ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BYnbspThe New
York Times Book ReviewnbspnbspEntertainment
WeeklynbspnbspO The Oprah MagazinenbspnbspNPR
nbspFinancial TimesnbspnbspNew YorknbspnbspIndepen
dentnbspUK nbspTimesnbspUK nbspPublishers
WeeklynbspnbspLibrary JournalnbspnbspKirkus
ReviewsnbspnbspBooklistnbspnbspGlobe and MailHer
name was Henrietta Lacks but scientists know her
as HeLa She was a poor Southern tobacco farmer
who worked the same land as her slave ancestors
yet her cellstaken without her knowledgebecame
one of the most important tools in medicine The
first immortal human cells grown in culture which
are still alive today though she has been dead
for more than sixty years HeLa cells were vital
for developing the polio vaccine uncovered
secrets of cancer viruses and the atom bombs
effects helped lead to important advances like in
vitro fertilization cloning and gene mapping and
have been bought and sold by the billionsnbspYet
Henrietta Lacks remains virtually unknown buried
in an unmarked graveHenriettas family did not
learn of her immortality until more than twenty
years after her death when scientists
investigating HeLa began using her husband and
children in research without informed consent And
though the cells had launched a
multimilliondollar industry that sells human
biological materials her family never saw any of
the profits As Rebecca Skloot so brilliantly
shows the story of the Lacks familypast and
presentis inextricably connected to the dark
history of experimentation on African Americans
the birth of bioethics and the legal battles over
whether we control the stuff we are made
ofnbspOver the decade it took to uncover this
story Rebecca became enmeshed in the lives of the
Lacks familyespecially Henriettas daughter
Deborah Deborah was consumed with questions Had
scientists cloned her mother Had they killed her
to harvest her cells And if her mother was so
important to medicine why couldnt her children
afford health insurancenbspIntimate in feeling
astonishing in scope and impossible to put
downnbspThe Immortal Life of Henrietta
Lacksnbspcaptures
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the beauty and drama of scientific discovery as
well as its human consequences